Popular Fiction

FLORENCE AND GILES BY JOHN HARDING (Blue Door £14.99)

John Harding-istas
will know and love his compassionate tragi-comedies about the difficulties of
modern family life.

For fans of What We Did On Our Holidays and When The
Sun Shines, Florence And Giles might seem rather different.

Differently
wonderful, in fact, this Gothic riff on Henry James's The Turn Of The Screw is
full of references to the earlier novella (the American mansion setting's called
Blithe, the housekeeper Mrs Grouse, the children Florence and Giles
etc).

But this, if you like, is the children's take; the story is told by
the precocious Florence, passionately attached to her little brother and opposed
to anyone, a governess for instance, who might come between them.

You
don't need to know The Turn Of The Screw to enjoy it. Real atmosphere is
increasingly rare in novels and here it is in spades; mysterious towers, faces
in mirrors, shadowy corridors and long black dresses.

Like James, Harding
keeps his dramatis personae tightly confined and ramps up the suspense and
mystery until even the most careful reader wonders what's going on and what
isn't. Your Twilight-reading teen will love it too. A darkly glamorous tour de
force.

MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND BY HELEN SIMONSON (Bloomsbury £12.99)

The name Pettigrew has become something of a literary indicator describing a
reticent, mildly tragic, shabby-genteel type of English
character.

Fictional Pettigrews are also, for some reason, usually
depicted having a last shot at life: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred
Watson was about a quietly desperate lady companion finally discovering
excitement, and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand duly concerns an elderly, widowed,
gentleman ex-soldier coming gamely to terms with the realities of Broken
Britain.

The ultimate military action of the title is metaphoric and
precipitated by the death of Major Pettigrew's brother, which forces him into
battle against his ghastly, grabby sister-in-law Marjorie.

There are also
some brilliant skirmishes with (my own favourite characters) the Major's
status-obsessed son and his brassy American girlfriend.

Major Pettigrew's
staunchest ally is the wise Pakistani lady who runs the village shop, and with
whom he discovers an unexpected bond; a Last Stand of an altogether more
pleasant nature. A charming, funny and absorbing debut.

AMS needs
no introduction, nor does Precious Ramotswe, who's back in storming form here,
traditional build, redbush tea and all. Her mission this time is to find the
beneficiary of a will: a guide at a remote safari lodge. But has Precious got
the right man?

In and among the usual benign sleuthing have crept some darker
shadows than usual; Mma Makutsi, who plays Watson to Mma Ramotswe's Holmes,
suffers a dire setback when her fiance has an accident and is kidnapped by his
evil aunt.

The fascinating figure of scheming, glamorous Violet Sephotho
also makes an appearance. Not as comfortable as you might imagine.